This first Full Moon of the new astrological year is big and bright in the sky. It’s a supermoon, meaning it’s closer to the Earth. Tides are running high in the oceans and in ourselves.
The Moon is in Libra, the Venus-ruled Air sign that seeks balance in all things. Libra loves harmony, but not at the expense of justice. Libra longs for beauty that is deep and authentic.
The question is, as always with Libra, how can we achieve such goals? The answers for this Full Moon appear in the patterns of the chart.
The Libra Moon opposes the Sun in Aries, a Sun joined by Venus and Chiron. Both planets are close enough to the Sun to be combust, their own light engulfed by the intense fire of the Sun.
Though impossible to see, Venus and Chiron are still there. Together, they carry the heart of the Full Moon message: The balance and harmony we seek depends on individual freedom and sovereignty (Venus in Aries). Achieving these depends on healing the traumas we carry (Chiron in Aries).
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Venus has not yet emerged from her superior conjunction with the Sun. “Superior” in this case means Venus is beyond the Sun, far away from the Earth. When she once again becomes visible, she will be the evening star, called Hesperus.
In ancient Babylon, the planet Venus was the goddess Inanna. At the superior conjunction, Inanna emerges from her descent into the underworld, reborn and ready to reclaim her throne. Having reclaimed her sovereignty, she takes up her life in the outer world once again.
Full Moons illuminate, bringing light to whatever goals we’ve pursued during this waxing cycle, to places in our chart touched by the Full Moon and its aspects, and to where we are in our own journeys toward freedom and sovereignty.
Venus rules this Full Moon which means the Moon is especially attuned to Venus’ condition. The Moon acts as messenger, letting us know in our bodies and emotions what’s going on in the golden throne room of the Sun, where Venus meets with Chiron.
Where do you feel you are in the balance between individual sovereignty and harmony with others?
Balance is a tricky thing. Too much Aries independence and we might feel isolated, having pushed others away to stay free. Or we might prefer to be around people who give way easily to our demands, preserving our sovereignty at the expense of theirs.
Too much Libran care for others can create the opposite: We sacrifice freedom to maintain connection, or give too much of our sovereignty away for the same goal.
Chiron’s presence can alert us to which pattern is ours, which way we might lean. The deeper message of Chiron is that our healing lies in our hands. We cannot look to others to fix our own imbalances.
The Moon also sails within a Grand Trine in Air that connects her to Saturn in Aquarius and to Mars and the North Node of the Moon in Gemini.
With the North Node involved, we know that what we really have here is a Kite pattern, with the South Node in Sagittarius at the top of the kite.
But wait! There is another Kite here with the Sun, Chiron, and Venus at the apex. So Air and Fire are mixed together, connected in a complex weaving that brings this question of balancing self and other into a much wider context.
Mars and the North Node in Gemini want to connect, connect, connect. They know that each is part of all, and no thing, in the end, is truly alone. We, with all the beings of this world, are part of larger and larger patterns of connection.
Saturn sets boundaries. He is also the farthest reach of our visible world, so the boundary encompasses all of that. Idealist and principled in Aquarius, this Saturn leaves no one behind. Each and every being has a place and a role to play.
We are invited to consider what freedom and sovereignty look like for all of us, all beings. If all peoples of all lands and backgrounds and beliefs are equally deserving of freedom, what does that imply about what freedom looks like?
If the animals, birds, creatures of the waters, if trees and plants and microorganisms are all part of the web of our world, then what sovereignty do they have? And how does our image of our own shift?
Chiron’s presence reminds us there is much to be healed in our world. The connections in the Full Moon chart show us that seeking healing in any part affects all. The balance the Libra Moon seeks includes justice and harmony for all.
If this feels overwhelming and completely out of reach, remember that anything we do to bring ourselves into right relationship with any part of the world will help. Will add to the balance of healing. Will take away from long-standing patterns of wounding.
At the Full Moon, Mercury is moving to conjunct Neptune in Pisces. Saturn might prefer to set a boundary at the end of our visible world. Mercury and Neptune remind us any such boundary is illusory.
The connections within which we exist extend much farther, farther than we can know or imagine.
That too can feel overwhelming, but it need not. Signified by our birth charts, each of us has our own way of interacting with the world around us. Nothing is too small, too individual, too limited to be of value.
Even the illumination of this supermoon in Libra cannot show us everything. What we are able to see, what we feel, what we understand, this is our arena for action. This is where we can work toward healing, can claim our sovereignty, and can respect and celebrate the freedom and sovereignty of others.
The astrological charts are my own. The images in this post include the title,
adapted from Sunrise by the Ocean by Vladimir Kush,
and the following images:
human/wolf by Chris Buzelli,
surreal fox by Barrett Biggers, and
otter by Jacub Gagnon